DPS Handing Out Early Homework Assignments

Some Detroit Public Schools students are being afforded a chance to get a head start on the coming academic year with early homework assignments.

The district is expected to announce today that more than 28,600 third- through eighth-graders will receive educational activity books with assignments that must be turned in for extra credit on Sept. 7.

Assistant Superintendent Karen Ridgeway says the homework is part of an initiative to ensure students begin learning as soon as they enter the classroom.

The 62-page booklets will be mailed in a back-to-school packet that contains school assignments, immunization updates and other information. They contain literacy exercises and activities that emphasize problem subject areas for some students.